Sarah Palin is right: the mainstream media is painting Pope Francis as a liberal. Here's proof

This week she's caused a stir by wrongly describing some of Pope Francis' statements as "liberal". She said on CNN, "He's had some statements that to me sound kind of liberal, has taken me aback, has kind of surprised me." Although she followed that observation with this important caveat: "Unless I really dig deep into what his messaging is, and do my own homework, I’m not going to just trust what I hear in the media."

So the first statement – that Francis is a liberal – is false. But the second statement – that the media is making him sound like a liberal – is entirely correct. Sarah's mistake is the product of mainstream media ignorance of how Catholicism actually works, so she can't be blamed for getting it wrong – but she's canny enough to acknowledge that she probably has.

…Pope Francis has impressed communities worldwide with his modest and thrifty attitude and more liberal teachings on women, abortion and homosexuality.

In July he suggested a more permissive attitude towards gay couples, remarking that it was not up to him to make judgements on the sexual orientation of clergy as long as they were searching for God and had goodwill.

He also said the Catholic Church is obsessed with abortion, gay people and contraception and its moral authority risks “falling like a house of cards” if it continues.

Amidst the furore over female clergy, Pope Francis said women have a “fundamental importance” in the Roman Catholic Church, pointing to the fact they were the “first witnesses” of the resurrection.

So the Pope apparently sees nothing troubling about gay sex, thinks abortion is no big deal and wants to fill the Church women priests. My sources tell me that he also likes to visit Lilliput to watch pigs fly.

Even if Pope Francis was a liberal and wanted to rewrite Church dogma on sexuality, he couldn't. The Catholic faith is defined not by the personality of the Pontiff but by the content of its ancient, unchanging theology. Alter one tiny aspect of that theology and the Church truly would be "falling like a house of cards" – because one u-turn would imply that the Church had got something wrong, and if it got sex wrong then maybe it's wrong about the virgin birth or the resurrection, too. It's not a faith that likes to contradict itself.

That's not how the mainstream media sees it, of course. Through a mix of sensationalism, ignorance and a desire to steer the Church in a certain direction, they've painted a picture of Pope Francis that is entirely inaccurate. Given all the propaganda, I can't blame Sarah Palin for buying the hype. But bravo to her for guessing that it's nonsense. Her knowledge base can sometimes be small, but her intuition is always impressive.